The present invention relates generally to electro-optical packaging and, more specifically, to providing electrical and optical coupling between a silicon photonic chip and an electro-optical carrier.
In computing systems, one or more processors may exchange data among themselves at rates as high as several Terabits per second (Tbit/s) with a projected bandwidth of hundreds of Tbit/s. Integration of photonics with electronics is key to achieving this projected bandwidth. Silicon photonics has been introduced into Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology to allow simultaneously manufacture of electronic and optical components on a single integrated chip. In addition, various optical components have been demonstrated to enable optical signal coupling between a silicon photonic chip and a standard optical fiber. As bandwidth increases, the complexity of electro-optical packages that support the projected bandwidth and the number of assembly steps of such electro-optic packages increases.